Sir George,
I think you're right. This is just another case of "Anything I think is right is good airmanship. Anything I disagree with is bad airmanship", perpetual conversations that happen here all the time. I always get very leery when heading into a thread where "airmanship" is mentioned because it usually descends into an opinion-based argument bordering on religious fervor with little basis in fact or self analysis of one's personal take on it.
In other words, most posters aren't interested in learning from the discussion, they just want to convince everyone else that they're right and make the world the way they think it ought to be. Not everyone, but enough for the discussions go that way so often.